Yuma SWAT team prepares for hostage emergencies

The SWAT team with the Yuma Police Department held its annual hostage training on Monday.

Lieutenant Nathan Dusek, Commander of the SWAT team said the training helps better prepare officers to handle hostage or barricade scenarios. “We’re covering hostage rescue training,” Dusek said. “It makes is safer for everybody. Safer that we can get to them quickly.” According to Dusek, Yuma’s SWAT team responds to approximately 4 to 5 hostage scenarios a year. “There’s been hostage type situations across the country almost on a daily basis,” Dusek said. Sargent Robert Tribune with the Yuma Police Department said it is crucial that officers familiarize themselves with the potential dangers they could face. “If we keep going through scenarios that expose us to this and there’s more stress in the training, the easier it is out in the real like and on the street,” Tribune said.